Getty Images allows free embedding of images, with some catches

Next, an account of the restrictions and limitations of this free embedding tool, from the weblog The IPKat:

The brand new free-to-use model, however, is not for all. In the mind of Getty Images, contents will be freely available for non-commercial usages only [“embedded images may not be used for commercial purposes”, the embedding panel warns], while anyone who intends to use contents within professional activities must still ask for a classic copyright licence. Remarkably, Getty Images adopts a notion of “commercial usage” that is far more user-friendly than that adopted by some Courts in Europe. Indeed, according to what Mr Peters declared to the British Journal of Photography, Getty Images considers websites using Google-Ads a non-commercial: “the fact today that a website is generating revenue would not limit the use of the embed. What would limit that use is if they used our imagery to promote a service, a product or their business. They would need to get a license.”

Of course, even if the imagery is “free”, it comes with attachments. Getty can decide to retract their license for free use at any time, leaving your blog with an empty hole where the image once was. They can collect usage information from your site, presumably extracting more information out of big data that they can use for some purpose. The commentary on The IPKat is not enthusiastic on behalf of photographers:

As someone who has grown old and weary fighting Getty’s ‘licence first and clear the rights later, if at all’ business model on behalf of impecunious photographers it is difficult to view this development with unalloyed enthusiasm